The Famine Games
by arieltrident
Summary: Delila Mellark is one of Katniss and Peeta Mellark's Children. She get's chosen for the Famine Games (a simpler and quicker version of the Hunger Games) and she must win to protect her family from the new President and all the people that run the government that he has manipulated. She meets a boy and realizes she must protect him because, there's something specail about this boy.
1. Chapter 1

I'm Delila Mellark. The daughter of two Hunger Games victors. Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen. I never thought that I would be a tribute to the Famine Games. It's unfair. Why would we do this again? It's been stopped once, do we really have to do this again? Will I win, or be a failure as I ususally am? Can I do this to save my family?

"Delila, sweety. Time for breakfast!" My mother called from the kitchen of our house. We are the only ones who still live in District 12...or what's left of it. I walked down the stairs carefully in my fur slippers, for I have learned from experience that it's best not to go down steps fast with slippers on. I arrived in the kitchen where my mother, father, and baby brother were there waiting patiently for me.

"Sorry guys. You could have started without me." I said as I was sitting down. I knew my father had cooked, as he most of the time does, because the bread was just the way I like it. Today was my sixteenth birthday. I guess it's a good reason not to start eating without someone.

"Sweety, happy birthday!" My father said. "I have a suprise for you." He got up from his chair and walked down the hall and into his room.

My mom just shrugged her shoulders and looked at me with a confused expression but I know my mom knew. She can't lie and she never could. My dad came in with a new bow and arrow. My father can't hunt but he sure knows how to make a bow.

It was Oak wood and had flowers engraved all along the bow itself. While the arrows were oak with the same flowers but had a mockingjay flower attached to each one. For some reason the mockingjay was very important to my parents but they always got too emotional to talk about it. I know it had something to do with the Hunger Games though.

"Daddy, I don't know what to say…I love it!" I said. I think I was so excited that I forgot to breathe. I got my hunting skills from my mother and my baking skills from my father. I have the best of both worlds.

"It was no problem sweety. I mad your mom's bow and arrows too." He answered putting his arm around my mother. They were the perfect couple. They completed each other. My father was like a calm, gentle breeze over a stream…while my mother on the other hand had fire inside of her.

We walked into the living room and had herb tea. My mother's specialty. We turned on the T.V. and were interrupted by a public service announcement. Our new president came on the screen and said "Hello. All districts will be participating in the Famine Games. We made a rule on the Hunger Games never coming back…but who said anything about the Famine Games?" and the screen went static.

My mother dropped her tea and glass shattered. My mother ran to me and wrapped her arms around me like I had been away for half of my life. I didn't quite understand it all. "Mom, what's going on?" I asked quietly knowing that I knew I didn't want to know the answer.

"It means they are restarting the Hunger Games, just a smaller and" she gulped, "and quicker version." She finally let go of me and I finally could process everything. I was more than likely going to be in those games. I was going to die. I mean my chances of getting chosen are like 8 out of 9 because of my parents. My mother told me a while back that they say it's fair, but every game is fixed to have exactly the people they want in the games there.

I saw a tear slither out of my father's blue eye. This was bad, really bad. My mother and father worked so hard to get all of this fixed and basically all of it was for nothing. They fought for me and won…the first battle. I will not let them fight this one. My mother ran into my father's arms. He kissed her on the forehead and ran his fingers through her long curly brown hair. The room was spinning. I wanted to say something but I couldn't. I was frozen with shock. There was nothing they could do for me. I would probably never see my seventeenth birthday. I would die soon this year and there was nothing anyone could do except me. I would fight for myself and never look back.

"I. Will. Win." After I said these last words, the room seemed to close up into a hole and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

I was running. All I could see were trees and leaves. Behind me was a cold sheet of ice air. Ice air is a sheet of air that is so cold that if it comes in contact with your skin that your entire body with be frozen and then the ice will break and so will your body. I ran and ran until I saw him. The boy from district 2. I made a special connection with him from the start. "RUN!" I screamed to him, but he didn't budge. He was waiting on me. I ran faster. The sight of him pushed me harder. Finally I caught up to him. He ran with me for about 20 seconds then he gave me an evil grin and tripped me. Within seconds I was trapped within the icy fog. I was dead.

I woke up gasping for air. I began to pat myself making sure that I was really still alive. I quickly turned on my lamp after coming to the realization that it was all a dream. It just felt so real. Now I knew why my mother sometimes woke up screaming my father's name at night. I wish that what happened earlier today would have been a part of that dream too, but I wasn't I'd be a tribute and there was nothing that I could do to prevent it, and on my birthday of all days. Just my luck.

I glided on my slippers and bathrobe and hurried down the stairs ignoring being careful not to fall. I ran over to Uncle Haymitch's house to see Whitt. Haymitch had a son two years before I was born, Whitt. Whitt is my best friend and I love him to death. Nothing will ever break our bond. I didn't bother to knock on the door. I just climbed up the side of the house until I reached Whitt's window. I opened it and climbed in. He was asleep. I swear he sleeps more than Haymitch when he's hungover. I shook him awake and he swung at me with his fist.

"Hey now! Don't hit girls…it's not nice." I said punching him in the bicep.

"Delila! Don't sneak up on me like that." He said rubbing the sleep from his eyes and sitting up.

"Sorry." I said climbing over him and sitting on the other side of him. "I need to be with somebody right now. I'm too afraid to sleep alone." I answered snuggling into the covers.

"Sure you can stay." He said in a very sarcastic tone as he was laying back down. If I said there was no chemistry between us, I'd be lying. We have kissed before full out on the lips but we don't want to ruin our friendship considering it's probably the only one we will ever have living in District 12.

I laid my head on his chest and he put his arm around me. I think he knows that soon I will be leaving 12 and going to the capitol. "I'm probably going to be a tribute in the games." I said very bluntly without even looking him in the eyes.

"No. You're going to be victor in the games." He said. It was this type of reassuring words that made me love him. He always reassured me that everything would be ok in the end. I looked up into those brown eyes of his that always showed that he had true compassion hidden deep down in there. His blonde curly hair stuck up all over the place which made him look younger than he truly was. His freckles slightly showed up in on his tan skin, but they were there. I always thought of him as someone that I could confide in when really, he's the only person I would confide in. My parents will never be like he is. They will never have a bond with me like Whitt does. We will always be closer than anyone I will ever meet. I hope. He gently leaned down and brushed the hair away from my face which soon followed a long gentle kiss that I will never forget in my entire life.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up to Whitt gone and Haymitch standing in the doorway. Ugh. "Sweetheart I hope you slept well. Why are you here?" He asked in a cruel tone.

"Nightmares." I answered.

"Well, I never said that you could come into my home whenever you wanted." He said with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Well, I never said I care what you think." I answered. I got out of bed and shoved Haymitch out of the door frame so I could get by.

"You sure are your mother's kid." He said chuckling. It's true. I was a lot like my mother. I wasn't very ladylike. I love hunting and I hate Haymitch in a form. Sometimes he's there to talk to and you can actually get some good advice out of him. Other times he blows you off and ignores you. That ticks me off. I sprinted home and met my little brother toddleing towards the door.

"Hey buddy! Whatcha' doin?" I asked him in a baby voice while picking him up. I noticed my mother was in my father's arms crying about a minute later. This could only mean one thing. The reaping was tomorrow. I ran to them and hugged them tight.

They look me in the eyes. Something else is wrong. What could be worse than this, seriously? "Sweety, you are the only tribute from 12 going into the games." My father says this time with his eyes on the floor.

It took me a minute to face reality and know that I honestly wanted him in those games. I needed someone to hold my hand as dreamed up creatures that would soon surround me thanks to the gamemakers. Without Whitt I honestly could trust no one. If I started to trust someone I was stupid and should be dead for the careless thoughts that went through my head when I made that decision. "Well, I'm glad I won't have to kill him." Is all that I can say.

I get up and walk to my bedroom. I throw my head into my quilted pillow that my grandmother made me and I scream loud. The pillow muffled most of it so I don't think my parents heard. Soon the tears began to fall and I cried for hours it seemed. I wanted this to be a nightmare, _all_ of it.

After about a half hour of crying, I heard my window being forced open. I turned to see Whitt. "You're safe." I said and turned back to my pillow.

"Don't just flip the switch and turn me off." He said walking over to me. I sat down on the bed and began gently brushing away the hair from my forehead. I layed my head on his knee and we began to talk.

"Do you think I can really do this?" I asked him.

"No." I shuddered. He really just said that. "I _know_ you can so this." He said. I let out a sigh of relief and smiled at him.

"You scared me for a minute there." I said and he leaned down and kissed me once again.

"I would never doubt you." He answered me. When he did things and said things like this, it made me melt. He was so clever with his words. It's like they just flowed out of his mouth perfectly. Sometimes I have to practice what I want to say to him in the mirror, rehearsing over and over again. "If I could take your place I would and you know that, Delila." He said and just like that, he was gone.


End file.
